Changing Tides
by bodyinmotion
Summary: Soon to be updated and hopefully completed. pre rocky
1. Moving out

Disclaimer: You all know the drill. I don't own anything.

I found her up in her room, with all of her things lying haphazardly about. She looked like she was packing up. I couldn't help getting excited. Packing up meant she was leaving. I'd never have to listen to her talking on and on ever again, not to mention her dancing. She was suddenly aware of my presence in the doorway and she turned to face me.

"Hey Mags, I didn't hear you come up, can I do something for you?"

There were two other things about her that got to me. The nickname made me feel sick. Gods know where she thought that one up. And the second was her offer to help. She was always looking to help out, so much that it was annoying beyond bearable. She reminded me much of a mosquito a giant red haired mosquito waiting to be slapped. I of course would never touch her, as the Master would surely find that reason to punish me to no end. I focused back on her bed, which was heaped with her clothes and several other items. I couldn't help asking her, "Where are you going?" I tried to sound innocent. She turned to me and sighed.

"I'm moving out", she must have noticed my eyes lighting up because a hurt expression crossed her face; an expression that turned to anger a split second later. "Don't look to hopeful, I'm not leaving the castle.", she said as she glared at me. I tried to look indifferent. She continued, turning her back to me and continuing to organize the piles on her bed. "Frankie's worried that I'd be lonely up here all alone in the tower, so I'm changing rooms."

I thought about all the empty bedrooms in the castle. There weren't any. An awful thought began to form in my mind and before I could shove it out I asked her "just where are you moving to? There aren't any rooms left, not empty ones."

She shrugged and replied, "I suppose Frankie found one for me though. I'll be down on the second floor, above the kitchen."

I stopped dead. I stared at her, that awful thought blowing full tilt into my mind. She looked at me funny and then a look of horror crossed her features. We stood there staring at each other until she found her voice and squeaked out a "that's your room isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question. She lowered her eyes to the floor breaking my gaze. A small smile played on my lips as she began to undo her packing. I turned and walked back to the doorway. I stopped just outside and threw her another look.

" This could be very interesting. You know I'm terribly excited, I've always wanted to share a room with a mosquito." I tossed the insult over my shoulder casually, I knew it was a childish thing to say, but I was disappointed she wasn't leaving. It was getting harder and harder to live here every day and it felt good be rude to someone who I knew wasn't going to fight back. Besides, it didn't take much to hurt her feelings. I stalked off down the hallway. I didn't hear her mutter:

" I was really excited about being closer to the action in the castle. On second thought, this tower is just perfect. I'll just have to go and tell Frank that I've changed my mind. I don't mind the solitude, or the darkness, or the dampness, really." She pouted a little and then left to find Frank and tell him about her choice.

It didn't surprise she or I when first thing the next morning we were summoned to the Master's chambers to discuss a "social conflict" as he called it. We both stood there in his office not wanting to look at each other as we listened to Frank ranting about how busy he was at the moment and how he was embarrassed of us breaking his all too important train of thought. To be honest he didn't care if we managed to murder each other, so long as he didn't have to get involved. Then with a dramatic wave and a sigh he dismissed us and slammed the door. I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. She looked a little put out that her "Frankie" didn't give a damn about her problems that he only cared about himself and his foolish experiments.

"He's just tired I guess", she said with another shrug and started to walk away. She'd been in this castle for a little over two months now and her relationship with Frank was rapidly deteriorating. On the other hand two months was a miracle for that man, most groupies lasted a week and a half at best. She just could not see who Frank really was. She refused to believe any of the rumors, she had got herself convinced that Frank had feelings for her, even though he was clearly bored with her. Then I understood. This was Frank's way of finding revenge on me and my brother. Columbia was one of his problems he didn't want to deal with anymore so he was dumping her on someone else. About a week earlier he had overheard me make a remark about working here that had pissed him off so he had given me a little speech on how grateful I should be to my "master". In there was a comment about "working in peace" which he clearly could not do with her hanging around all day. He was looking for any excuse to punish me and by the looks of things he had found a very good way of doing it.


	2. Short Nights

It was quiet when I entered my room later that evening. I had finished work and was heading back when I ran into my brother. I stayed with him until I could keep my eyes open no longer. He of course offered me a place beside him, which I was tempted to take, but I had to wake in the wee hours of the morning and it wasn't good to wake him before he needed to be awake..

The lights were off when I stumbled in. I took off my boots and lay down, too tired to undress. I had sprawled myself across the bed when I remembered, but the bed was empty. I clicked on the bedside lamp. She was curled up amongst all of her things, piled in a corner beside the bed, asleep. She clutched her pillow tightly to her even in slumber and her head rested on her bag. She looked comfortable enough so I left her where she was. It was only after a second glance that I realized she had been crying; most likely she had cried herself to sleep. Silly girl, she wasn't the only one unhappy about this situation. Then again, I never knew what was wrong with her, there were always many reasons, and excuses she gave whenever anyone found her crying. I rolled over again hoping I'd be asleep instantly, as sleep was a precious and scarce thing around here.

I awoke to her moving about the room, humming. I glanced at the clock. It was five a.m., too early for her to be awake and I was going to be late. I hurried into the bathroom and tried to make myself look presentable enough. She came in and proceeded to comb her hair, still humming. I didn't recognize the tune, but it was annoying me already. "Mornin" she said. I just looked at her. She shrugged and walked away from the mirror. I gave her one last look and exited myself, just in time to hear Frank yelling up the stairs.


	3. Blinding Rage and Tears

**A.N.** I realize that this is long...sorry about that. It'll end eventually. (disclaimer in chapter 1)

It had now been a month since she had moved into my room. She had moved off the floor and onto the bed and I had taken to spending more nights in Riff's room than in my own. I didn't think I could ever grow to like her, let alone accept her .I walked in one day in November in a terrible temper. The Master had beaten Riff in front of me, which was more than I could stand. It was then up to me to look after his wounds. The longer I stayed here the more frayed my nerves became. I could feel all the stress and pain my dear brother was put through, we was so much thinner and weaker now. It was hard to touch him and not break down in normal circumstances, but tonight Frank had gone too far. I didn't mean to, but I cried, silent tears as I cleaned and bandaged the fresh red lines on his back, as they added themselves to the countless other scars. It didn't take him long to notice something was wrong and despite his pain he took it upon himself to comfort me. I felt awful; it was me who should be offering comfort not him. I continued to cry, something I haven't done in ten or so years while he held me. When I could finally look at him, I noticed tears forming in his eyes. I have never seen him cry. I couldn't stand it and although he tried to keep me with him I ran, until I arrived in the kitchen. He didn't follow me. I was headed for a nervous breakdown and I wasn't the one paying for digressions with my own blood. When the tears stopped I climbed the stairs to my room. I entered to find her sitting on our bed, lost in the music coming from her record player. It was an upbeat song that I'd heard before; it was the same one she liked to hum. It was late and I was tired so I walked over and switched the record player off. Immediately she snapped out of her trance and looked at me, her eyes searching my face for the reason I had ruined her moment.

"It's late I'm tired and unlike you I do have things to do during the day that require that I'm up rather early." I explained, hoping my voice was steady.

"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep, but I'm so tired..." she trailed off. She hadn't noticed the quiver in my voice. How could she, she'd never understand what I felt like that night. I lay down. She started to hum. Already on the edge I snapped at her.

"Shut up." I snapped. She looked at me startled. She narrowed her eyes, but she lay down without saying anything. She also visibly inched her was closer to the edge of the bed. I threw off the covers and stormed over to the window. It was raining slightly, but I took no notice of the weather. All I could see was my own reflection and the more I looked at it, the more I hated it. I hated how Riff and I were treated, I hated how I had behaved earlier, I hated this castle, I hated the planet, I hated the mission but most of all I hated the very man leading it all. Thinking of him fueled my anger. I've never been good at controlling extreme emotions and there was only one other person I could possibly vent on. _Her._ I saw her reflection coming closer to me. She gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "Genta?" she whispered. She had finally realized something was wrong. But I wasn't searching for comfort; I was searching for revenge, for my brother, for me, for the cause of our planet. I whirled around and lunged at her. Caught off guard she fell backwards onto the floor. Blinded by fury, I scratched, bit, tore and hit anything I could. She never fought back. She threw her hands over her face in protection. I guess we were both screaming pretty loudly for soon the door banged open and in came Riff.

" What are you doing we wouldn't want to wake the Master now would- **GENTA**!!" He saw me and dove in trying to pull me off of her, despite his earlier turmoil. Finally he succeeded and we all collapsed on the floor, me still seething staring wild eyed at the ceiling, him panting beside me, from pain and exhaustion and she lying, her body trembling, with her hands still over her face. No one made a sound. At last Riff stumbled to his feet and dragged me up with him. He stared me in the eye, and then he hit me. The shock was enough to bring me back to reality. I looked around and I found her, huddled in a corner, trying to figure out the extent of the damage. By the looks of things I had made some significant changes to her appearance. Her face and hands were covered in long deep scratches, several of which were bleeding. Her nightclothes were torn in several places, and it was obvious that there were more scratches underneath. She was a mess, but so were the rest of us, and I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty. Riff ushered me out into the hall and back into his room. He shut the door and turned to face me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a tight embrace. We stood there in the middle of the floor, me gripping him, holding on as tight as I could, afraid he'd let me go and he, running his hands through my hair, whispering my name.

"Genta, my darling. Tell me why you did this, tell me what's wrong." His voice soothed me and slowly it all came out. He sat me down on the bed, always holding onto me, staring into my eyes as I told him everything. How I was so angry, how much I hated Frank and his way of treating the one person I loved so dearly, how we were both to blame and I should take the pain too, that I hated myself for not being there to help him, how I hated everything about the mission, how it had all gone wrong, and how badly I wanted to go home. I told him how I felt about Columbia and how I didn't feel guilty when I saw what I had done to her. I didn't feel anything at all then, and I still didn't. When I stopped I was crying again.

"Genta", he said softly, "that's the second time in one day that I have seen you this upset. It isn't like you to act this way. You've always had so much control; you mustn't let him break you, darling it hurts me more to see you this way than any beating he could ever give me. Genta I can't always be strong for you, but you're such a brave woman and it will all be over soon, I promise. Genta, stop crying I beg you, look at me, none of this is your fault, I hate him as much as you do, but I won't let him hurt you, I'll kill him if he tries. Don't take this out on Columbia, she is after all only a naïve little girl. Now, regain your self-control, I'll deal with Frank soon, he won't hurt anyone for much longer." The fierceness with which he said this was frightening, but reassuring. He leaned away, looking at me trying to see whether or not I understood he was telling the truth. I did; it was very clear to me that his pain was making him angry too, and when the time came, Frank would die knowing that he had lost. Riff was clearly worried about me but he was also determined to make me happy. He leaned in again and kissed me softly before getting up, and turning from the doorway he said: "the girl is in need of some attention I believe, I'll return shortly, I think it best if you were to remain here for the night. We've all seen enough blood for one day. Just remember my dear..." he looked at me with a gleam in his eye.

"Not for very much longer," I answered and smiled as he left.


	4. Surprise visit

Riff walked into the room Magenta shared with Columbia to find the latter curled in the window seat. Riff tried to go to her as quietly as possible, but the castle being as old as it was, had floorboards that were sure to creak when you stepped on them. Sure enough a loud creak caught him dead in the center of the room. Her head snapped to attention and her eyes grew wide in fear. She couldn't see very well, but she could see movement and the shadow of a person. That person was carrying something that looked like a bottle and a towel. She curled herself into a tighter ball and whimpered in pain. The unidentified person spoke: "Shh, Columbia it's me Riff Raff, I've come to help you." He walked over to the window. He unscrewed the cap on the bottle and poured some of the liquid onto the cloth he had brought with him. He reached out and took one of her hands; she drew in her breath sharply pulling away in pain and in shock. He barely ever spoke to her and he never touched her. In the dark he could see the confused expression on her face. He explained, "This will numb the pain, along with aiding in the healings. By morning most of the damage will no longer be apparent. I apologize, I realize this is rather out of character, but I believe I am correct in assuming that no one has ever showed you how this medicine works, and since Frank is", he smirked and raised an eyebrow, "rather busy at this moment and my dear sister is not in any shape to be near anyone, I am the only other person with that knowledge." He said this as though it were a simple matter of logic. It was really, but Columbia sat bewildered at this random act of kindness. Normally whenever she managed to injure herself the pair of them would simply give her the cold shoulder. Riff leaned in again and reached for her hand, but this time she let him take it. He dabbed the scratches with the cloth and immediately she felt her hand go numb. She couldn't see whether the redness had decreased and she was slightly shocked at the effectiveness when she noticed that she no longer had the feeling in either hand and that Riff was now dabbing her face. It felt different than it did on her hands, she didn't feel numb, it tingled a little then it got cold and finally it felt odd, but she couldn't put a word to it. Riff stood up, depositing the bottle and the cloth on the seat beside her. He crossed the room and then paused in the doorway.

"Use the rest to heal your other wounds, you don't need me to help you with those, I'll keep Magenta with me for the next few days, she's," he stopped, searching for a word to describe his sister's condition, " she's depressed, sad and angry. I won't apologize for what she did to you, that's her obligation. Goodnight." He left, leaving her sitting still slightly shocked and numb on the window seat.

He returned to his own room and walked over to Magenta who sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. He ran his hand through her hair and sat beside her but she didn't move. He brushed her hair aside and let his fingers stroke her cheek. He turned her face towards him, forcing her to at least look in his general direction, but he could not force her to meet his eyes. She looked empty, her usual stony expression firmly in place. He kissed her forehead and pulled her gently into him, bringing her to lie on the bed. He rolled over her, looking at her features. The light slowly ignited in her eyes, she reached up and brought his lips to hers. He didn't resist her, not until she tried to remove his shirt did he pull away. A questioning look crossed her face and he answered her.

"Not tonight darling." It was all he needed to say. She went limp beneath him and he rolled over. He lay facing her back, close to her. He lightly touched her hair again and then put his arm around her, pulling her even closer. "I love you", he mumbled into her hair and she sighed in reply. Eventually they both fell asleep.


	5. Cautious

chapt.4

For the next few days, Riff never took his eyes off me. Every chance he got, he would ask me how I was, how I felt. He was over protective but it was enough to keep me from lapsing into another bout of depression. He kept me way clear of Columbia, but she wasn't around much anyway. She spent the nights out of the castle, so after about a week he let me back into my own room. (It was only later that I found out about Eddie.) It was hard to spend time alone, but I was never really by my self, and I was kept busy enough that I didn't have much time to dwell on my darker thoughts. The only one that kept it's self ever present in my mind was that some day very soon, Frank's reign was going to end. I wasn't sure exactly what my brother had in mind, but I knew he was clever enough to keep our idea submerged until the opportune moment. About two weeks after Columbia and I had our "altercation" I ran into her one evening as she was coming in the door after another of her almost nightly excursions. She wasn't sure how to react in my presence and I wasn't sure about her. A brief expression of concern showed on her face, but disappeared and was replaced by her sweet but fake smile. "Hey", she said and began to walk past me up the stairs. I called her back.

"Columbia", I started unsure of what I should say but I had started and now I had to continue. _Finish what you've started _flashed through my brain. It was a haunting line to me, one Riff used on me many times in order to keep me from getting distracted from my work. It was also a line Frank used on me the one time he tried to seduce me. That one line held several meanings to me and none of them I particularly liked. Finish what? I wondered to myself but I was pulled out of my thoughts by a voice from the stairwell.

"Um, Mags? Did you want something?"

I looked at her and then I remembered what I wanted to ask her. "Yes, uh, where do you go every night? You've spent most of your free time out of the castle, I was just wondering what you do." 'Whom you see' is more like it I thought. Her eyes went a little wider and then she blushed. Not the response I was expecting.

"I, well, since Frank simply ignores me most of the time I took it upon myself to go find someone else." She stated it with such certainty that I was caught a little off guard. I didn't even think she knew Frank wasn't terribly interested in her anymore.

"Oh, I see. Well did you? Find someone else I mean." She smiled a little and then she said: "Yes, well I think I did. He um, his name's Eddie." She blushed and giggled slightly. Eddie? The delivery boy? Whatever did she see in him? Now I was very surprised.

"Eddie? As in Frank's new delivery boy Eddie?" I asked.

"Yes, yes that's him." She looked down at the stairs.

"Sorry, I'm just a little bit surprised that's all. I mean I didn't think you knew that Frank, well that he just wasn't interested anymore. I didn't know...." I trailed off and began "admiring" the art on the walls. She looked at me funny then she said:

"Yeah, there's a whole lot you don't know about me. 'Night Mags." She turned and walked up the stairs. Curious as to what she was referring too in her last statement I followed her. We arrived at the door to our room at the same time. She heard me coming and whipped around. "Magenta why are you following me?" her voice was hushed and a look of fear flickered in her eyes. Remembering the last time we were alone in our room, it didn't surprise me that she was scared. I tried not to look offended. "Look, Columbia I need to talk to you. I know how you feel about this situation, and I'm sorry for what happened. I've talked to my brother a lot and I'm getting better. You were right, there is so much that I don't know about you, but lately you've made me curious, I know this is strange coming from me, but maybe if I knew you better things would be different." She was staring at me wide eyed and then she muttered more to herself than to me "what are you on?" I heard it, and immediately I could feel the heat rising in my face. She must have realized that I had heard her because she turned such a deep shade of scarlet and had to look down at the floor. "Oh Mags, I'm so sorry, it's just that I never thought you'd even look at me twice, but now that you want to have a serious talk with me, that's um, well it's weird." She chanced a glance in my direction and caught my gaze, but I looked away.

"Can we move into the room, instead of the hall, that is, if you want to?" This situation was awkward at best and now she didn't even think I was serious. There was one question I had to ask her, but I wasn't sure whether she'd answer it truthfully or not. She was right about one thing; I was taking some sort of anti-depressant though I wasn't sure it was having the right effect. It certainly wasn't making me any happier. It was my brother who kept me on it and I didn't bother asking questions. I pulled myself out of my thoughts and followed her into our room.


	6. Hearts

A.N. Things are starting to live up the rating, will be full PG-13 by next chapter (Mags "moment"). By the way the italics are flashbacks. Wow this is long, my humble apologies. I couldn't end it and I couldn't fit all that I wanted to into this chapter so, yes there is more to come. Lol.

We sat on the bed. It was an awkward moment, I didn't know how to ask my question and she didn't know what I wanted and so she sat looking expectantly at me. Finally I got out a few words somewhere along the lines of "What makes you happy?" She looked at me in a way I've never seen before. It was a mixture of fear, thought, bewilderment and sadness. She considered my question and then she answered

"Lots of stuff, why?" She was puzzled.

I wasn't sure how to answer her. Whatever Riff had me on had suddenly made me want to discuss pleasant things instead of my usual dark thoughts. Whatever "stuff" made her happy was not what I cared about; I wanted to know what the happiest moment of her life was. So I asked her. She once again disappeared into her thoughts, and when she came back to earth she had an answer.

"Before I got here, I was a performer. I worked with a company called Live On Saturday. I used to be kind of in the background for the bigger names, the headliners. I was a good dancer, and I could sing. One day the manager of the company, his name was Robert, told me that he had entered me of all people in the annual Talent Performance Night. This was a huge event for the company, we could usually count on our top dancers to win something and bring a little extra money to the company. You can imagine how I felt, I'd never even been the star of one performance and all of a sudden I was supposed to compete with the top in the state. At first I thought he was kidding, but he showed me the entry form, approved by whoever approved those things that made it official that I was competing only a short month from that date. I worked so hard every day; I couldn't let my company down. It was so classic too, our star girl landed funny on her ankle in practice and she couldn't compete, that left it all up to me. The day of the show I didn't eat anything and Robert had to practically force-feed me so I'd have the energy to dance that evening. Things would have been fine if I could get the ending right....

_I stood facing the mirrors in the studio and once again hit the play button on my record player. The music began and I danced almost flawlessly until the last sequence. I spun out of it again and fell on my ass. I heard small applause from the doorway. I turned to see Robert there. He came over and helped me up. Then he hugged me, something he never did to any of the other dancers.  
"Hey, stop worrying about it. Think of tonight as the chance you have to show everyone that you really belong on center stage. Be cocky if you have to, don't worry about the outcome, you're a performer so do just that. Perform for the audience, play with them, flirt with them, and bring them into your world. Stop looking at me like I've got three horns on my head. You can do that; I've seen it happen. If anyone you'll suck me in, you always do. You're beautiful to watch, everyone will notice that. Stop practicing before you hurt yourself and you'd better eat something. It begins in an hour."_

_I was numb, I doubted myself so much the thought of me blowing the whole thing was fully present in my mind. The hour passed so quickly, I don't remember it at all. I was standing in the wings, but Robert wouldn't let me watch. My makeup was done and my costume was on, I looked ready, but I felt totally mixed up. Suddenly the announcer was speaking: "**And now, please welcome to the stage our second last performer in the State Dance Talent Search and Competition, I give you Columbia Adan Mckay."**_

People started clapping and the lights went down. There I was center stage for the first time. The lights came up, Robert gave me a nod but I was frozen. I couldn't think. Numbly I took my beginning pose and waited. I couldn't see the audience but they could see me. The music began and so did I. I wasn't thinking, I don't think I could. Twice I nearly stumbled, but I managed to hang on. The end was coming, step step shuffle step turn spin jump, pose. And it was over, just like a moment dissolved in time I was finished and I hadn't fallen. But it wasn't a perfect performance and I walked off stage disappointed. I looked at the judges' panel to see my score come up as a 9.4. I shrugged and turned around. Robert wasn't there so I watched the last performance. She was good, but she wasn't as clean as the music needed her to be. Her score was a 9.3. At that moment, the wings erupted in cheers. I was soon mobbed by several other dancers from my company along with Robert and the stage manager. I didn't know why, until Robert lifted me off the ground. He set me down and was nearly jumping up and down from excitement. He was yelling, "you won you won, my god you've won!!" I had won, by one tenth of a point.

**_"_**So I guess that was it then?" I said.

"No, I mean I was so excited and I was happy, but the really big moment was after the ceremony and the awards presentation. I got to perform again. My happiest moment was when the music ended for the final time and I stood there breathless, in the ending pose that had won me a state prize. I was so proud, it was such an unbelievable and unforgettable experience." She grinned and floated back to that moment. I could see the light in her eyes grow brighter as she imagined her finest moment again.

"What about your family, I guess they were pretty proud too." I was testing the water with that one, I knew she had come here alone and had stayed without regret. I was curious to find out what had happened. The moment the words were out of my mouth the light vanished from her eyes and was replaced by the same cold hard anger she had shown me recently. Then she laughed, but not her usual cartoonish giggle, this was a cold, devoid of emotion laugh.

"You know what Mags", she was looking at me in that mixed emotion way again, "I haven't seen my goddamn family for almost 11 years? I hate them, I ran away when I was 10. I lived with my aunt on my father's side; she raised me. When I was 18 she died, some sort of heart trouble. That's when I came here. I've only ever had to see my parents once after I left and that was to testify against them in court after my aunt filed a case." I shook her head and blew her hair out of her face. She was trying not to cry I could see her struggling to keep her face strait. I changed the subject.

"Umm, what happened after you won, where did you go from there?"

"To be honest, nowhere. That night Robby and I spent this wonderfully romantic time out on the beach and back at his place. You can imagine what happened next." She giggled a little. She had forgotten the previous subject in a hurry. Not that I blamed her. "Anyways", she continued sighing and rolling her eyes, "turns out Robby wanted to "sell" me and my dancing to bring in extra revenue for the company. That wasn't what I was there for and all the terms really did require a lawyer to sort them out. Anyways, I quit. Robby was quite mad, but so was I, I mean he was just gonna use me for money. I'm not a whore, even if this was for dancing. I thought he had feelings for me, but he had set me up. At least I still won that contest fairly. That's why I hum that song", she pointed to her record player, "It's the song I used that night. I've had nearly everything else taken away from me, but no matter what they do, they can't take away my pride, my moment. I was the star, facing the crowd as they all cheered for me."

It was then that she did cry. It was awkward to comfort her; I tried my best. We fell asleep piled erratically on the bed. My last thoughts were of how I was going to tell her my "darkest" secret. I was also very keen on knowing what had possessed her aunt to file a court case against her own brother. I guess not everyone has close family relationships.


	7. The greatest moment

A.N. chapter 7 already. It's a little dark; you've been warned.

Summary: Magenta tells her "greatest moment" while watching a sunrise and almost burns down the castle.

I awoke the next morning before the sun came up. I headed down to the kitchen to get breakfast underway and then walked strait out the back door into the courtyard. There was a small table out there so I sat down. I got lucky that morning, the courtyard faces east, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Sunrises and sunsets were a novelty to me, back on my home planet they were next to non-existent. I loved to watch either one, but I could only watch a sunrise without interruption. They were something special, they held a sense of freedom that I longed for. I didn't hear the door open and close. I did sense that someone was outside with me and when I turned, I was surprised to see Columbia. She was never up this early. She was holding a mug of some steaming liquid that smelled wonderful.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the mug. I was surprised by her reaction. She looked down and blushed slightly.

"This? Oh, coffee, it's a good thing to drink in the mornings. We didn't have it here before but I picked some up the last time we went into town. It really helps if you have to be up this early. Caffeine boost."

I raised an eyebrow, and I thought earth people would never have thought of such a thing. "Is there any left?" I asked. She nodded and got up to go get me some but she stopped on the grass in front of me.

"Umm, what do you want in it? Milk, sugar, or you can drink it black. That's how I have mine."

"Black sounds good." She returned a few moments later with another steaming mug. I took it and took a sip. It was hot and had this awful bitter aftertaste but I liked it. We sat on the table as the sun began to rise. We were lost in our own thoughts when she asked me what my greatest moment was. I sat, watching the sky grow pink and thinking back to what I called my "greatest" moment.

_It was getting late and I started to get worried. Riff was never this late, not on a Friday. I sat in my window seat watching the waves lap at the shore below. I've always loved the view; I could sit for hours watching the moons reflecting on the water. Today, even the view couldn't calm my inner storm. I had a feeling something wasn't right. At that moment the front door opened and slammed shut. I ran to the stairs and there was my brother, soaking wet and shivering. I ran to him. He told me that Mom had never come to pick him up after school and he had to walk home. I hugged him, and I didn't even notice that I was getting wet. I was glad he had gotten home. Later upstairs he told me to pack some of my things in a bag and hide the bag in the closet. Then he told me to hide. I didn't want too, but we heard the front door open again and slam shut. Then we heard Mom shouting up the stairs. Riff went pale, he was Mom's favorite target when she came home drunk or stoned, but tonight I wasn't going to watch another violent scene._

_"Don't move, don't make a sound. If you can do that she won't bother to look for you." Riff said as he went to meet Mom in the hallway. I could see out the door from my hiding place behind the bed. She was a mess; her hair was wild and her face dirty. She shoved Riff aside saying that she wanted a heart to heart with me. _

_"Genta, my darling where are you? You don't have to hide, I don't want to hurt you." Her voice was calm and she looked as if she was going to cry. I stood up. I saw Riff squeeze his eyes shut, but she didn't strike me. Instead she sat me beside her on the bed and told me: _

_"Genta, I know I haven't been a good mother to you. I'm just a sorry bitch for an excuse of a mother. I've hurt you and I don't want to hurt you anymore. He was a bastard your father was; he led me into some bad bad habits. I didn't want to hurt him, but I couldn't make him leave." At this point she did begin to cry. Then she continued, " He wouldn't go, I didn't know how to make him leave, I couldn't make him leave. Then he died Genta, I lied to you all these years, and I've caused you so much pain. You don't have to hurt anymore. You need to sleep, forever. It won't hurt ever again. I'm a miserable, sorry, bitch. You can hate me, I won't mind. That's why you both have to go too, I can't keep doing this to you." She pulled a small vial of poison from her pocket. Suddenly I understood what was going on. My mother was going to kill us both because she thought she was going to do us a favor. She reached for me but I leaped of the bed. She began to sob. She fell to her knees on the floor sobbing. Riff grabbed my hand and we ran. On the way out I grabbed my bag, he already had his and we fled. I looked back in time to see my mother drink the entire vial and collapse on my bedroom floor. A single drop of that poison was enough to kill."_

Columbia was staring at me with a look of utmost horror. When she recovered, she leant across the table and put her arms around me. I didn't shrug her off.

"Oh, Mags, I'm so sorry. That's awful, you so young having to watch something like that. Why though, is that your greatest moment?" She still had her arm around me.

"That wasn't it. The moment came after that. Riff and I headed to the beach, where there are several "date shelters". We sat inside one of them, staring out at the water. The shock from my mother's death was wearing off, and once again I was able to truly appreciate the beauty of the reflections on the ocean. Staring out at the water still holds something special inside me. That moment was a moment of total freedom. I have never felt so good, so unrestricted in my entire life. It was only for one night and since then I've never felt that same freedom again. We slept there; Riff holding onto me of course until we were awoken by the sounds of people on the beach. We were taken to the Royal Court. Surprisingly we were both allowed to finish our education and Riff was given a job in the Court's Biological Studies lab. We were treated as any court member, but we were held by the crown, we were no longer free. When we got here, our freedom was diminished even more. It was not my intention to hate Frank. In the beginning I liked him, but his selfishness took over his charm and I began to turn cold to him. When he started taking credit for my brother's work, I disliked him. When he started to beat Riff for whatever reason, that's when I began to hate him. Every now and then you get the chance to see his charming youthful side, but it's hidden so well and now I can't stop myself from hating him. Riff's always hated him, he has his reasons." I stopped.

"Mags? Riff, he's older than you isn't he?"

"Yes, by four years. It's funny, until my mother's death it was always me who took care of him. After that night he's always there. He can almost read my thoughts by now." Screaming coming from the house interrupted us. My already pale face went even lighter and Columbia's did too.

"Breakfast." I choked on the word. Without another moment we both dashed back to the castle in time to see smoke billowing out the kitchen window.


	8. Breakfast scene

Chapter 8. Hmm, this is getting long. I still don't own anything.

I lost my breath as soon as Columbia and I barged in the kitchen door. I dropped to my knees coughing until she tugged at my arm trying to get me to move. It was Riff who had been yelling, or rather was still yelling, trying to find Frank's version of a fire extinguisher. The thick smoke made it terribly difficult to see and the three of us blundered blindly around the room until Columbia walked headfirst into the sprocket on the wall holding the fire extinguisher. We would have kept going if she hadn't yelled out "found it" before slumping to the floor. I nearly tripped over her, but I felt around the wall area until I grabbed a hold of the handle. By this point Riff was right next to me, so I handed him the bottle and he pulled out the stopper, unfurled the hose bit and aimed it at the stove/oven and the steam poured out.

He must have pretty good aim because the fire was out before the bottle was empty. It was a little easier to see now, and I wafted the smoke towards the open kitchen window. I turned to see Riff staring wide-eyed at the doorway obviously trying to conceal his emotion. I turned around slowly and saw Frank gaping in the doorway.

He was quite the sight. Standing there in his silk robe, with curlers in his hair and his makeup halfway done. I suppose he had heard the commotion and come to see what the fuss was about. I'm sure we looked quite entertaining, covered in soot and minor burns, and the both of us trying not to wince every time we had to breathe.

We were all at a loss of words. Frank's eyes traveled around the room, pausing on the unconscious form of Columbia, then on the blackened stove and finally on my brother and I. He mumbled something about a smoke and going back to bed before turning and walking away from the kitchen at a remarkable pace. I glanced sideways. Riff looked at me before saying

"This isn't over, we're sure to hear about it later."

I had the feeling he was right. It wasn't like Frank at all to leave a scene without any say, especially if it involved my brother and I. Columbia began to stir. Slowly she picked herself up off the floor and looked at us. She shrugged and I looked over at the stove. Riff looked at her, then at me, then at the mess. Silently we moved to clean it up.


End file.
